"I'm escaping this world

one step at a time

but all I need first

is a partner in crime" - J.H.

 

Laughter and posh lectures one with another. Gentlemen in suits and ladies in dresses. The environment felt elegant and suffocating in this venue, at least for the seven year old Giotto. He looked adorable in his little suit, at least that’s what everyone said as his father showed him off. His father was the chief of security of the city, wealthy, handsome, widower, everything and anything Giotto could care less of. His most popular trait was his hatred and fear against mutants, beings with supernatural abilities that could surpass animal and machine. The city both feared them and revered them, it was a dividing side. But being a small minority they would only stand out every so often in the news. What his father would never know was that his own son was a mutant with developing powers. Another rub to the head, causing his hair to get messed up caused Giotto to groan and sneak away, away from the strong smelling perfumes and out a door that led to the outside for fresh air, the back parking lot barely lit up by a street lamp and decorated with a few garbage cans. “Stupid party, stupid stuff, stupid dad.” Giotto muttered under his breath as he got his hands in his pockets and kicked around a rock. He hated social events like this. Not only was he ignored, he was used as an item to show off. “Stupid!” He kicked the rock again.

"Yeah yeah, that's probably just it. Wish you a happy birthday. I don't know why she can't just text it to you or some bs like that. Girl are so f****** complicated for f**** sake." Jesse really didn't understand women. Johnny claimed that he did but Jesse always called him out on that.

"Whatever, don't expect to loose your virginity tonight- hell, don't expect to loose it until you're like fifty to some desperate hooker." Jesse mused as he hung up to go back to sleep.

Meanwhile, for once Giotto found Beauty on his first shot. She was sweeping the small aisles when she saw Giotto. As soon as she did she quickly rushed to the back.

"Be right there~!" She chimed. After a few minutes, she came out with a lovely little cupcake with a lighted candle on it.

"Happy Birthday~!" She sang gleefully as she offered Giotto the candle. "I'm sorry for how it went last night!"

Giotto smiled, his eyes glimmering in excitement at the sight of the cupcake. "Ah thank you!" Giotto chimed, making a mental wish before blowing the candle. "You heard huh? Nobody got seriously hurt. Well, that one guy but he lived." Giotto said, taking the cupcake gratefully. Despite the whole event, it was small moments like this that made his day. "Thank you so much, Beauty." Giotto said with a small bow. "You've been well today I hope?" Giotto said as he took a bite out of the cupcake. It was the yummiest thing ever.

Beauty smiled as she watched Giotto eat the cupcake. When Giotto mentioned the mutant man however, she felt a small pain in her heart.

"It's okay." Beauty said with a chuckle, going to sweep the floor some more. "I wanted to do at least a little something for you. Birthdays are my favorite after all." Birthdays really was Beauty's favorite. It was very special and important to her. As a result she always made sure to get something for all of her friends. She learned it from her father.

"Vatti used to say birthdays are our own personal holidays after all. And it's one more step towards the future."

Giotto listened to Beauty's words, smiling as he glanced down at the cupcake. "One step towards the future." He whispered, repeating the words. She was right in such. A birthday was another year of life that one had accomplished. Another year of living, working, playing, being themselves, celebrated on the day that one was blessed to walk this earth. As simple as birthdays may seem they were also the most special of all celebrations. "This city is too pretty to fall in depravity forever." Giotto finally spoke, giving Beauty a thumbs up. "One day there won't be anymore sad birthdays for anyone. I'll make sure of it!" Giotto cheered. They had a lifetime ahead after all. A lifetime to make changes for the good and for the bad. Suddenly, a small lightbulb seemed to click inside his head. That's it. That's one way to start it! "I got it!" Giotto was about to dash off, but quickly stopped and have a bow to Beauty. "Thank you again, Beauty! I'm going to investigate, have a nice day!" Giotto said, and with that he began to run. A list. He needed a list. Of names, of stories, of mutants who had disappeared in order to search. What better way to start than at Eden?

Beauty chuckled at Giotto's kindness. Wanted to make everyone have happy birthdays huh? That was both naïve... And sweet. Someday Giotto would make a great leader for the city.

"Alrighty then, Sherlock." Beauty said with a smile. "Get out there."

 

Meanwhile, at Eden everything was going on per usual; people dancing, playing, and overall having a great time. The usual DJ was there as he always was, as well as the same Bartender. Currently the Bartender was cleaning a few cups since not many decided to drink today. "..."

 

Giotto ran excitedly, smiling as he could feel the adrenaline pumping. He had finally found the perfect plan. Well, not perfect, but it was a plan! “(Mutants and humans are the same. They’re simply different in terms of power! But if we can show the people that mutants aren’t so bad, so different, then maybe they could have more positive recognition! Though if it doesn’t do that to the mutants, at least it will bring light the state of the Bronze Layer.)” Giotto thought as he quickened his pace. He said hello to the bouncer as he always did, and headed straight inside. His energy was noticeable, if not contagious. “Bartender bartender bartender BARTENDER!~” Soon Giotto slid onto a chair on the bar, a determined look on his face as he made eye contact. “Mister Bartender I’m doing an investigation of mutants that have gone missing under police custody or the Tower. I was wondering if you have any information of any missing that you will be willing to share? Names, ages, last seen, maybe even a picture?” Giotto asked.

Great. firetrucking great. Giotto was here. That was utterly lovely. The Bartenders day got a whole lot better.

"Hey, kid," The Bartender began, "Don't get ahead of yourself. You can barely handle a drop of beer. Do yourself a favor and take a chill pill or something." He had to admit, he was somewhat amused at the 'investigation' Giotto was trying to pull.

"Yeah, whatever. If you really want loads of information, look at that board over there." He nodded to a bulletin board next to the bar. On it was pictures of missing people, mostly mutants and their information. It ranged from all kinds of people big and small. Old or young. Some of them have been missing for a long time. Some from a week ago. On some pictures were written 'tortured and killed by Skulls.' Not many people stood near the bulletin board, and tried to forget it even existed. No one wanted to remember such pain in a haven like this.

 

Giotto’s eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight of the bulletin board. How come he had never seen it before? Then again, out of the times he had been here, he was always so busy having fun with Jesse and talking with people, he wouldn’t have taken notice of something so simple on a corner of the wall. He jumped off the chair, walking over to the bulletin board. It was like ones he had seen in movies, giving off an eerie vibe. Especially as people walk past it as if it never existed. He quickly took out his phone, using one hand to enter information into notes in his phone while the other gently moved across the bulletin board papers, his eyes scanning the photos and the words. Missing. Murdered. Missing. Missing. Murdered. The extent of the dates ranged way back as well, up to the most recent of yesterday. There were many around his age as well. “This…many?” Giotto murmured, slowly using his powers to fill up his phone with information about the ones on the bulletin board. He didn’t know that the situation was this bad. It pained him. Every time he discovered something new, things would only seem to get worse. How long has this whole operation been going on? “When did they start? The disappearances?”

The bartender sighed once Giotto began to ask questions yet again. This time, about the bulletin board. No one ever talked about the bulletin board. It was almost taboo to talk about it. Like a name that should be never mentioned.

"It's probably been going on before either of us has been born." The bartender mused as he began to stack the glasses. "Someone always wants mutants to be no more. There's always someone who wouldn't hesitate to kill a mutant just because that person is a mutant. Back in the day they were lynched in the street like a f***** up Christmas ornament. Now, you're either killed by the Skulls or taken to the Tower. Funny thing is, a lot of people say the Skulls are way worse than anything. They just love to torture their victims before they let them bleed out... Or choke. Or drown. And the Tower sucks just as bad. People stopped going to hospitals because rumor has it that some people go into the emergency room... And never come out. Mutants and humans. Hm... Some guy made that bulletin board like fifteen years ago I think? Not even. Probably longer than that."

"(So long?)" Then again mutant activity was first reported around 40 years ago. Maybe the whole mutant situation seemed new to Giotto because he was young and sheltered from such realities for a long time. For a moment he wondered if his efforts would even do anything to something that has been going on long before he was born. He moved his hand down and felt the pin that Jesse had given him. He decided that even if it didn't make much impact, it would be something compared to nothing. As he took pictures of the pictures with his phone, he knew exactly what he would do. He turned to the bartender. "Mister bartender, you wouldn't happen to know someone with the ability to fly, would you?" Giotto asked innocently enough.

The Bartender hummed as he stopped his cleaning to think for a moment. A mutant that could fly? Well, that was a tough one. Sure, there was mutants that could fly in the past, but having such an ability was dangerous. Many mutants who could fly were often taken out very quickly. The ability alone was rare anyway.

"A mutant that could fly? There was someone who had these sick angel wings... But that someone got taken out a while ago. I don't know anyone who can fly." He suddenly paused. "...But I know someone who can his eyes in the sky. There's this Puerto Rican and Cuban dude. Or maybe it was Puerto Rican and Dominican... Anyway, he's pretty dark, and he has curly hair in a small ponytail. He can see through the eyes of others. He also has a gay brother who comes here too. See if he can help you out."

Giotto nodded. "Alright. Thank you mister bartender." Giotto said as he gave a small bow and turned back to the crowd. Somewhere around here was someone with a gift that could be useful. Specifically someone that could get him to the top of an antenna and off before any cops tried to climb up themselves. He began to walk around, aimlessly looking for someone of such description. "Er excuse me? You wouldn't know of someone who could fly or teleport...no? Ok sorry. Oh hi, do you happen to know anyone whose powers can reach the top of a tower? I know its a weird question, sorry." Giotto went on. He wasn't afraid. He was more worried of the thought that if he didn't find someone he would have to jump down that tower with a parachute and hope to not hit anything on the way down. There had to be someone. There had to be. "Do you know of someone who can teleport or whose powers can get me to a tower? Please its very important?"

Each and every person shook their head after they heard what Giotto needed. A mutant who could fly or teleport? No way. Sure, there's plenty of those in movies but ironically it was hard to find such a mutant in real life. After about five more minutes, someone seemed to know something.

"Teleport huh?" Came a man leaning against the wall where he watched some people play pool.

"Why, I know a guy. Er, kid actually. I think he's your age. Good luck trying to get to him though. He and his daddy lives all the way at the Silver Layer. The kid can teleport. I know because I've heard some other kids talking about him here. They said he teleport right at the edge of the Bronze Layer, where the abandoned construction site is at. Go there and maybe you'll find the kid."

Giotto's eyes gleamed as he went ahead and shook the man's hand. "Thank you thank you! This is just what I needed!" Giotto said. He then turned over to the bartender and called to him. "Watch the news tonight!" He said, and just as quickly, he took off. So the kid was from tube Silver layer. Giotto for a moment almost forgot all about the layer, as he spent most of his time either in the Gold or in the Bronze layers. Giotto ran to the location, looking around as he made sure not to trip or step on anything dangerous. "Hello?! Anyone here?! I heard that there's a mutant that can teleport! I need your help please!" Giotto called. "I'm a mutant too! Please don't be afraid?"

The man chuckled as Giotto thanked him and turned to leave. Never in his life has he met a boy like Giotto. Giotto was definitely... Special.

"See ya later, kid." He said with a grin.

Meanwhile the Bartender signed as he watched Giotto leave. He had a bad feeling about this.

"You're going to get him into trouble." He huffed towards the man.

 

Once Giotto got to the place and started yelling out everywhere, a small 'ow!' was heard following by metal tipping over and clattering to the ground up ahead. A small boy Giotto's age or older emerged, running the back of his head.

"W-Who the heck are you?" The boy asked. He had short black hair and blue eyes. He wore a brown shirt, black shorts and brown sandals.

"I'm not a mutant..." He uttered. "So get lost and leave me alone...'

Giotto took a few steps forward. "H-Hi. I'm Giotto. It's nice to meet you!" Giotto began, always the gentleman. "I was looking for someone. A person told me that a mutant who had the power of teleportation could be found around here...that wouldn't happen to be you, right?" Giotto asked, clasping his hands together. "You see, I really need your help to reach in and out of a place and teleportation is the perfect power that I need for this. I have this plan on bringing light to some of the disappearances in hopes of the public doing anything to help about it...and I need to reach the top of the Media Tower in the silver district to do it." Giotto explained. "I can totally do something in return if you ask for a trade...or give you something."

The boy looked to Grim as if he had two heads. Go to the top of the media tower? Was he absolutely insane?

"Well you're looking at the wrong place..." He uttered as he went behind a pile of metal. After a few moments however he thought about it and felt bad. He emerged from behind the pile.

"I... I can teleport. My name is Wolfgang. But I can't get you to the top of the tower..." He uttered as he dug the tip of his sandal into the dirt.

Giotto pouted and sighed. "Right, I guess I need to remember that the request is actually pretty big..." Giotto said as he looked around and took a seat on the nearest pile of iron building bars. "Wolfgang right? That's such a pretty name. I heard you're from the Silver district too. It's always nice to meet other mutants my age." Giotto smiled. He'd find a way to get up there. He always found a way around. "You don't have any missing friends that were also mutants...do you?" Giotto casually asked.

Wolfgang crossed his arms. Honestly he just wanted to be left alone, and not have this kid bother him.

"I don't know anyone who's a mutant..." He muttered. It was true. Honestly he didn't really know anyone period. "Can't you just find someone else who can help you? I don't want to teleport to some tower that's going to get me in big trouble. I only found out I was a mutant two weeks ago."

Giotto was impressed. Only two weeks ago? Then again the development of powers varied from person to person. Some gained them as young as infants while others when they're full grown adults. "Only two weeks ago? It must be hard to get used to your powers after discovering them so recently...you seem like you learn fast though, so you should be fine." Giotto smiled. He stood up, brushing the dust off him. "Right, sorry for bothering you. I didn't mean to upset you. I'll get going alright?" Giotto gave a small bow and turned to leave. "...don't tell a lot of people about your power. Only to those who you trust the most. There are a lot of people out there who...want to hurt people like us, so be careful, ok?" Giotto said, smiling as he walked away and waved.

Wolfgang huffed and crossed his arms. Well duh don't tell anyone about his abilities. Giotto was basically saying everything Wolfgang already knew. The only people who knew about his abilities was himself and a couple of kids that were with him that day when he discovered his ability.

"Well I did fall down an elevator shaft..." He uttered, more to himself before he walked away. Maybe he should stop coming here.

 

-Later that day-

 

Giotto spent the rest of his day home, working on the information he found of the missing people. It was like a school project that he had to get perfect score on and he didn’t know if the teacher would give out perfect As or perfect Fs. It was all at the faith of the reaction of the people. He felt that he needed to do it. Otherwise more people would disappear. Innocent people that could do so much for this world and city as a whole. Once he finished creating the small video mashup he packed up his computer and headed out. The signal tower for the news network stood right next to the building itself. Luckily the tower had a single ladder that led all the way to the top. Not so luckily, as Giotto began to climb to the top, he realized how high he actually was from the ground. Plus it was a bit windy. He reached the top and opened the electric box, seeing the multiple cables inside of all kinds of colors. He moved his hands over the cables, and then sat down, taking out his laptop and opening it to choose the MP4 file. “Alright…” Giotto looked down at the time. It was almost for the news to begin the daily broadcast. He knelt down and kept one hand on the computer, and moved another hand onto the electric box. “Sorry dad. But this problem has to seriously be fixed.” Giotto hissed, slamming his hands on the cables as the surge of electricity began to flow across his body. His eyes glowed as he used his body as a transfer from the computer to the satellite, and instead of the daily news, the video began to play instead. It went on the giant screens of the malls, the streets, the small tvs that all awaited for the news. It was there.

 

It started as a simple black screen with white caps titled “Unsolved Disappearances of Next City”, before promptly beginning to list down numerous people by name, age, and with a picture if possible, when they were last seen, and any small details, an electronic voice speaking it out as the list went down. Even hinting here and there of the police’s activity in the cases. 

 

“Kaede Feliciano. 11 years old. Last seen at the park near her home, 14 years ago. Case closed due to the inactivity of the case.”

 

“Homer Vazquez. 39 years old. Husband and father of 2. Last seen walking home 12 years ago. Case forcibly closed under suspicious circumstances.”

 

And so on, and so on…

(Honestly if I saw that in real life I'd probably shit myself LOL)

Everyone in the entire city paused and looked at what was being broadcasted. Even the people in Eden stopped to watch the small little TV screen that no one ever payed attention to. A few people looked on in shock, some beginning to cry from the bad memories of long ago when their loved one was taken from them.

"Damn, the kid actually did it." The Bartender commented, serving a glass of water to Stiles who sat at the bar. No alcohol today.

"I knew he could." Stiles said with a smile.

Meanwhile Beauty looked up to the monitor that played in the deli. She couldn't help but smile as she knew exactly who was responsible for this.

"You did good." She said, holding her broomstick over her heart.

Jesse was back in the basement when he realized what was going on. Johnny smacked on the old fat attena TV to see many different reports of people who were missing.

"Holy shit." Said a half-awake Johnny, still exhausted from the night before.

"... That's my hotshot." Jesse said with a lopsided smile.

 

(I’ve read enough creepypastas to know what’s up lmao)

 

The transmission went on for around 10 minutes or so on, maybe less. Listing some of the many missing. Of course the news station were seeing it too, but were more concerned on the fact that someone had hacked into their signal to broadcast it. By the end of the broadcast it ended with a few simple sentences.

 

“They remain missing until this very day, and many more continue to disappear. Where are they?”

 

Once the video finished, Giotto quickly moved his fingers away to cut the connection between his computer and the tower, and he finally could take a breather. He rubbed his eyes gently before closing the electric box and closing up his computer. He packed it up and wrapped it around his shoulders before taking a look at the sight of the city. “Well, hopefully that will stir something…hopefully good.” Giotto breathed with a small smile. It had been a productive day, to say the least. Then he heard people climbing up the stairs to check. “Oh no.” Giotto froze, and began to freak out. He had a plan to get up…and forgot a plan to get down. “Oh no oh no oh no!” Giotto squeaked, now panicking around the platform. Suddenly a figure pulled him and wrapped its arms around him. Before Giotto could scream a hand covered his mouth. “Hush! I’m helping you out!” It was Hansel. What the hell, how long had he been there? Hansel focused on his power, and an invisible field started to surround the two of them, making them invisible to those outside of the field. “Whoa…” Giotto whispered. He saw as the men walked up and walked all-round the platform and the antenna, checking for any activity before promptly returning down once they figured that the culprit had ran away. Hansel called off his powers and breathed in relief. “That’s…amazing!” Giotto smiled. “It’s nothing.” Hansel admitted. “Mutants have to help each other.” “Yeah…” Giotto said, taking out his cellphone and sending a text to Jesse saying ‘Success! ; )’. “Hey, Giotto?” Hansel asked. The red haired boy glanced up as Hansel was offering him something. As Giotto took it he found it to be in the shape of a skull…

 

“Want to help out with a coup?”

 

On a nearby rooftop, Wolfgang stood there watching the scene closely. He could make out Giotto and another man talking. He teleported a bit closer to get a better look.

"He's with the Skulls..." Wolfgang said, taking in a deep breath. He thought about teleporting up there, but realized it was probably a bad idea.

"Say no..." Wolfgang uttered to himself. The Skulls were bad news. He just hoped that Giotto won't accept the offer.